Persona - From Slumber
by AlexTenThousand
Summary: In the Yakushima lab, there was a secret project, unbeknownst to everyone, even Mitsuru Kirijo. But once found out that Aigis and Labrys are not the last androids remaining, what will happen? As Aigis teaches her newfound brother, will new secrets of the Kirijo group come to the surface? - Fanfic I started out of a rather silly idea, let's see where this will lead us


Everything had been quiet. The place looked almost abandoned, and it had been for quite a while.

The cables connected to his body. The cold, pressurized space of the capsule. He could feel it all. But it wasn't accurate to say he felt it. He acknowledged it.

Incomplete.

Something inside him felt incomplete.

He had memories of many years before. Voices of people around him. He could remember when they gave him life. The pulsing light in his chest. He didn't know how many years he spent in his slumber.

But soon, it would have all ended. He would rise from his slumber and it would all begin.

The red-haired woman was overseeing the dismantling of the facility. The Yakushima facility had gone unused for a couple of years, ever since the death of her father and the awakening of what became a precious teammate and friend, the Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon, Aigis. And yet, even as the lab was being progressively emptied of the expansive anti-shadow technology her father and grandfather had developed over the years, Mitsuru Kirijo felt there was something wrong. Something was missing. The only documents she could find in his father's office regarding the lab seemed… lacking, like a page had been removed on purpose, to hide the contents of the facility.

Her intuition was proven right once she found what looked like a metallic cylindrical capsule. It was mostly covered in what looked like a thick layer of dust, one of the few parts not covered in dust bearing the inscription "ASSW-Lyceios".

Wiping away some of the dust from the capsule, she recognized what it was. The only question was why it had been hidden away.

She would have needed help, and there were only a few people actually able to help her.

The group stood there, in front of the capsule, as Mitsuru explained the situation to them.

To an outsider, they could have looked like a mismatched group, that in no normal circumstance could have any kind of relation to each other. But unbeknownst to most people, they were comrades and friends, and once saved humanity from annihilation.

The Shadow Operatives, or ex-S.E.E.S.

"I'm sorry to have summoned you here without any further notice, but it is a question of utmost importance"

Most of them were following Mitsuru's words, but one of them looked distracted, what at first glance looked like a beautiful blonde girl, but at a closer inspection, was an android, a robot named Aigis.

Her eyes were almost obsessively locked on the capsule, now freed of the dust that covered it, and what it contained.

"Eh, no problem, coming back to Yakushima isn't that much of a sacrifice after all!"

Junpei was smiling almost smugly like he was used to, as his personality made him look like he was able to face even the worst situations without worrying too much.

"As I was saying…"

Moving her hand to shift the group's focus on the elephant in the room, the capsule that was the very reason they had been summoned to the secret facility, Mitsuru's expression was stoic and serious

"While dismantling the facility we came across something unexpected. I had the feeling some documents were missing from my father's office, and it is my belief that they regarded **this** "

The capsule the blonde android kept staring at wasn't empty: inside was what looked like a sleeping young man, the sides of his head looking like they were covered with triangular headphones, messy short black hair on his head matching his expression, his handsome traits painting a blissful sleeping expression.

"From what we've managed to gather, it seems like this is another Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon – to be more precise, an 8th generation one, the only one ever produced, a few weeks before the incident in Tatsumi Port Island."

"WHAT? There's another one like Aigis besides Labrys?"

Yukari seemed shocked at the revelation, and for a good reason: the Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapons were a tool created by the Kirijo Group as a security measure for their experiments with Shadows – experiments that in the end, brought her very own father to destroy the main laboratory in Tatsumi Port Island in an attempt to stop them, ending his own life with them.

But that was the past. As they had all learned, Aigis was the last one around, but their assumption had been quickly proven wrong the past year, when they met one of Aigis' "sisters", Labrys, another functioning Anti-Shadow Weapon.

The main problem with Mitsuru's discovery though was another one: as far as they knew, Aigis had been the last one ever produced, a 7th generation model, but even that had been proved wrong once more.

"So… why are we here exactly?"

Akihiko never really questioned Mitsuru's leadership: he trusted her friend, and knew she was never the one to take a wrong decision, but he failed to see the point of all of them being there.

"What I mean is, there must be a reason why this model was left here. It could be a precious ally for the Shadow Operatives, but it may also be dangerous. All we know is that he was never activated, and if once awaken he proves to be malfunctioning or hostile I may need your help to subdue or suppress him."

As much as a proof of how much she trusted their strength, it made also a good point: even if under control of Ikutsuki, when Aigis turned hostile against them they had a hard time fighting her.

"So… he's like a little brother to Aigis…"

Fuuka's words caught Aigis' attention: she clearly remembered the warm feeling of happiness she felt when she found out that her "sister", another Anti Shadow Suppression Weapon was still alive.

Her artificial eyes kept analyzing the switched-off android behind the glass: for some unknown reason, she felt the same warm, fuzzy feeling; the same crave for a bond that she felt with Labrys, like finding out that a long lost member of her family was still alive. And hearing Fuuka calling him her 'little brother' only fueled that feeling. She felt like if she had a heart, it would be beating like crazy.

"Now, don't let your guard down. Given that we shouldn't show hostile behavior straight away, we must be ready to summon our Persona if thing take a wrong turn. If everyone's ready, I'm going to start the boot up process."

Pressing a couple of digits on the small keypad on the side of the containment unit, Mitsuru backed off, joining the rest of the group, her hand ready to take her Evoker in case something went wrong.

A quiet hissing sound came from the capsule as it depressurized itself, cables disconnecting from the android inside with a clicking sound, his face still blissfully asleep.

Beeping sounds in a rhythmic fashion could be heard coming from him, like an old computer accessing data, and slowly, he was put in standing position, his eyes slowly opening.

Aigis could almost hear a strong heartbeat echoing inside her head, her own emotions playing games on her. She didn't know why, but she felt the urge to hug him, or even just be close to him.

Quickly scanning the group of people in the room, the android stood still, saying in an emotionless voice

"Unit KRJ-081 fully functional, reporting for duty."

With no sign of hostility, the mood in the room quickly got much less tense, the whole group relaxing and talking their hands away from the Evokers.

"So he's just like Aigis-san before she… you know, became more… human"

The first one to break the silence was Ken, with a phrase that made Aigis feel uncomfortable

"Did I really talk like that?" 

She obviously remembered how she was before she started developing emotions, but it still felt… eerie to think that she was merely a machine, a weapon… her own evolution into a human surprised her when she thought about it, and the confusion it caused in her head made it so that she never brought up the argument. But seeing another android like her… her little brother act like that, gave her 'food for thought' as they say.

Her eyes scanned him: he resembled her and Labrys, being an Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon, with minor differences, and comparable in size to Akihiko with a few added centimeters in height, giving the impression of a much stronger body compared to hers or Labrys. His hands had the same grey fingertips that hid the machine guns, but without the extended magazines on the wrists, and his main body and arms had a distinctive midnight blue color, contrasting with Aigis' pure white, the fabric around his chest and neck covering his armor resembling a closed trench coat, like the ones Aigis saw the detectives wear in the old tv series and movies she watched to understand human customs.

His eyes were a dark shade of green, and were almost mechanically analyzing the surroundings, perhaps looking around the area to detect possible Shadows nearby, or waiting for an order by a human.

In the end, besides from his mechanical limbs and the usual "headphones", he had a perfectly human appearance, and it made sense: like Ikutsuki explained the group once, the Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon had to be made in a human shape for the Papillion Heart to give them the power to use a Persona, and even if their personalities started as cold, emotionless machines, they still had a subconscious mind.

"So, KRJ-081, do you have a name?"

His eyes quickly shifted to Fuuka, hearing her words, his scanning software taking in her appearance before answering.

"This unit recognizes itself as Lyceios. My objective is to exterminate Shadows."

"My name is Mitsuru Kirijo, these are the Shadow Operatives. We believe that you could join us since our objectives are the same"

Quietly taking in the information, Lyceios kept staring at them, apparently still incapable of doing anything else but take orders.

"This won't do… he seems to be fully functional and operative, but like Aigis when we first met her, he hasn't developed a consciousness and personality yet. It may prove difficult to work with him until he has developed one."

Aigis suddenly felt a warm, almost burning feeling in her chest as an idea came to her mind. As her human personality instinctively tried to swallow, she raised her hand, prompting everyone to turn their heads to look at her, even Lyceios, perhaps emulating what everyone else was doing in the room.

"Maybe I can help with this situation."

A perplexed, yet intrigued expression appeared on Mitsuru's face as she prompted Aigis to continue

"What do you mean, Aigis?" 

"Like you all remember, I was like him before. By being close to all of you, I developed my own personality and feelings. Maybe I can help Lyceios develop his own. After all, it's my duty as his big sister"

One of the side effects of Aigis watching too much TV to learn about human personality often resulted in her delivering cheesy sentences like that, but this time it was more driven by that crave for a bond that was making her chest feel heavy.

"This unit recognizes correlation between itself and the 7th generation Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon"

As awkward and cold as it sounded, Lyceios' words made Aigis smile, with Mitsuru giving her knowing smile, nodding.

"Ok Aigis, let's see how it goes. It makes sense that you could be useful to help develop Lyceios' personality, given that you faced the same transformation."

A sudden spark of joy ignited in Aigis, as she looked at her new 'brother': it would have been a hard journey, but she would never give up.


End file.
